PhD students go to the Belgian coast!
September, 2024
In the first weeks of September, the EPPG group had the pleasure of hosting the BND Graduate School 2024 in Blankenberge. This annual event brings together early-career PhD students in particle and astroparticle physics for an intensive week of lectures, discussions, and collaborative projects. The program offered a diverse range of expert-led courses and provided the participants with opportunities to exchange knowledge and connect with fellow young researchers from across the region.
The school concluded with a highlight: students presenting the collaborative projects they had been working on throughout the week. The projects ventured beyond their own research domains, such as luminosity measurements, scale variation calculations, gravitational wave analysis, and future collider physics.
Researchers from UGent accelerate the Muon system upgrade activities at CERN
August, 2024
As part of the upgrade program of the CMS detector for its future operation at the High-Luminosity LHC, various research activities are in full swing for the mass production of the Muon Endcap (ME0) Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) modules. The ME0 detectors will extend the coverage of the CMS Muon system in the challenging forward region of intrinsic high particle fluxes and beam radiation damage. With leading the GEM detector studies and aging activities at CERN, the UGent postdoc, Gül Gokbulut, knows exactly how to build a high-quality GEM module, therefore, securing its smooth integration and subsequent operation in the CMS detector. This summer, she was joined by the UGent student, Aiko Decaluwe, who is starting her Master research studies in the EPPG group, to work together on the GEM module production and quality-control testing in the main GEM laboratory at CERN. After the successful GEM production campaign at CERN, both researchers will reinforce the upcoming GEM mass production assembly activities in the EPPG clean room, scheduled in Fall 2024.
Dr. Jan van der Linden is Awarded with KIT Doctoral Award
December, 2023
In recognition of his outstanding achievements in studying the production of heavy quarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Jan van der Linden will be awarded the 2022/2023 edition of the KIT Doctoral Award, awarded by the Excecutive Board of KIT. With this award, KIT honors outstanding young scientists and underlines the high value of young scientists at KIT as a role model for others. The award ceremony will be part of the KIT President’s Honorary Evening in summer 2024.
Jan van der Linden’s dissertation entitled “Inclusive and differential cross section measurement of ttbb production and studies of tt production with additional jet radiation” is characterized by its high relevance for research at the LHC, its excellent methodological standards and its exceptional quality. In addition, the award recognizes Jan van der Linden’s creative use of machine learning methods in particle physics and his commitment to the education of students. Jan van der Linden’s dissertation at the Institute of Experimental Particle Physics (ETP) was supervised by Dr. Matthias Schröder and Prof. Ulrich Husemann.
Jan van der Linden has already started the next step of his scientific career. Funded by a Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Belgian Research Foundation Flanders, he investigates the production of top quarks and Higgs bosons at the University of Ghent.
CMS GEM Detector Production in Ghent
August 7, 2023
In the heat of summer 2023, our group emerged as a hot spot for the production of the CMS GEM (Gas Electron Multiplier) detector. We proudly unveiled the magnificent GE2/1, the second station of this cutting-edge detector at the Muon subsystem in CMS. They will be later installed on the CMS detector during the upcoming winter break. Countless hours of dedication and commitment have be rewarded in an amazing achievement.
a combined production site for CMS GEM.
A new CMS observation, made in Ghent
May 22, 2023
After months of intense research, CMS and ATLAS finally have announced the observation of one of the rarest and most extreme Standard Model processes ever observed at the LHC: the simultaneous production of four top quarks. Quarks are one of the fundamental building blocks of nature, being the main constituents of protons and neutrons. Currently, we know of six types of quarks, one of which is the top quark. It is the heaviest particle we know of, 100 000 time heavier than the the typically found in protons and neutrons, amounting to a mass almost as large as that of a gold atom. Given that it is so heavy, it is virtually impossible to observe under normal circumstances, but in the highly energetic collisions at the LHC, they are produced in large quantities. Having four of them at the same time is, however, still rare, even at LHC. Yet the extremity of the process makes it especially prone to modification by yet unknown physics ruling the high-energy spectra.
For those reasons, the recent observation is another great success of LHC. In this case, one with a strong Belgian flavour, because the research yielding the CMS discovery has been largely conducted at Ghent university, by the PhD student Niels Van den Bossche and his supervisor Prof. Didar Dobur, supported by the the other members of the Ghent CMS group. Armed with machine learning, physical insight, and, most of all, heroic energy, they made this observation possible in record time, confirming once again the commitment of Belgium, and especially Ghent, to provide world class physics at the forefront of modern science.
Academic visit of Muographer from Japan
November 14, 2022
Miki Ohtsuka, an ambitious physics teacher from Waseda University Honjo Senior High School, visited our laboratory and had an academic exchange. Miki is currently on an academic tour around Europe, targeting universities and institutes with Muography projects. Miki gave a nice overview of her work on the Muography project of the Akiyama-koshinduka historic mound at Honjo, Japan. The project is aimed to study the inner structure of the historic mound and search for the possible cavities inside. Miki is leading a group of about ten high school students in the project, conducting fieldwork and analysing data. This gives the young students an interdisciplinary environment, and stimulates their interests in physics and archaeology.
Van Der Meer Program 2022
November 10, 2022
Ever thought how luminosity is measured at CMS? This done using so-called luminometers which are detectors counting a certain process with known cross-section. These cross-sections are measured once a year during a special LHC setup that allows to measure cross-sections without knowing the luminosity in advance. The main feature of this set-up is that the beams are moved away from their usual head-on collision course during so-called scans. CMS performs several types of scans, which collectively form the Van Der Meer program, honouring the Dutch accelerator physicist who invented the essence of the procedure. It has been successfully applied during run 2, and will see its first run 3 edition from November 10th to 12th 2022. The luminosity team within the Ghent CMS group headed by Postdoc Joscha Knolle proudly participates in this effort. They communicate the program to LHC and keep an eye on the CMS performance by day and night to ensure the best data-taking possible.
Graduation Master Students
October 8, 2022
Our Master’s students of last year succesfully graduated, which was celebrated with an official proclamation ceremony. Two of them got an award acknowledging excellency in their academic performance and Master’s thesis work. Sibe Bleuze, supervised by Prof. Archisman Gosh, was awarded the Armand Pien award, dedicated to the best Master’s thesis in the field of Astronomy. Maarten De Coen, supervised by Prof. Didar Dobur, won the Physics and Astronomy award, which highlights acadamic excellency and/or outstanding commitment to the Physics and Astronomy student community.
More pictures of the ceremony can be found here: https://beeldbank.ugent.be/nl/fotoalbum/proclamatie-2022-faculteit-wetenschappen?page=4.
CERN visit of Minister Jo Brouns
September 6, 2022
Mr Jo Brouns (centre of picture), Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy and Agriculture, accompanied by the rectors of the five Flemish Universities paid a visit to CERN on Tuesday 6 September 2022. In addition to various presentations on CERN, knowledge transfer and innovation, the delegation had the chance to visit CMS experiment, ISOLDE facility and IdeaSquare. At the end of the visit the Minister and his delegation had fruitful discussions with members of the Belgian community at the Globe. Professors Didar Dobur and Filip Moortgat (right to the Minister), together with Postdoc Amrutha Samalan and PhD student Maarten De Coen (left to the Minister) travelled in person to CERN to represent the Ghent EPP group. We clearly voiced our concerns towards the Minister, confirming in this way our group as a stronghold of particle physics within the Belgian community.
For more pictures, see https://cds.cern.ch/record/2826316.
